It took two days of flying and a combined rest time of 8 hours for the group to arrive at the Black Academy, and it's name really fit its appearance. The entire Academy consisted of one large, black building.
The building covered an area of 500 square kilometers and was made of a black, rock like material. It's surface was smooth and shined under the midday sun.
The sides of the building had more windows than actual wall, in terms of area covered. The windows were made of dark glass, which had veins of paint on them, making an interesting and ancient looking pattern.
From what Khaos could see by counting the rows of windows, the building was seven stories high with some floor having higher roofs than others, as evidenced by the larger windows.
The establishment was then surrounded by a 10 meter tall wall made of a black material similar to the building, but less refined. As a forger, Khaos was familiar with almost all materials on Zylon, but he had never seen that one. Curiosity was killing him, so he had no choice but to ask.
After speeding up to the front of the group, he asked Instructor Kira; "Instructor, what is the wall and building made of?".
"It's material comes from an earth Law". It was actually Instructor Dern who answered. "My master is the one who made it, did i mention he is one of the strongest Resurgence Realm Cultivators on Zylon?" Dern added.
Instructor Dern's answer raised more questions in Khaos' mind, but before he could ask, Instructor Kira interrupted. "Welcome to the Black Academy prospective students", then she pointed at an open field inside the wall.
There was a distance of 300 meters between the wall and the building. The field Kira was pointing at had an area of 100 square meters and was located at the back of the building.
Khaos guessed it was the back of the building just because it was adjacent to the side opposite to the one with a large banner depicting the emblem of the Black Academy.
The wall did not have an actual gate since everyone could fly, and the building had a door on every floor, meaning that there was no way to reach higher floors from the inside of the building. One would have to exit their current floor and fly up from the outside.
"Go and wait there for a few days, the other participants from other recruiting points will join soon enough". Instructor Kira said before she and Dern flew to the door giving access to the top floor of the building.
Khaos sighed and followed the group to the field. He also noticed some weights in one corner and training dummies.
After finding an isolated spot away from the other participants, Khaos sat down and began cultivating. Soon enough, he got lost in the sensation of World Energy entering his core and restoring his Wind Flux. Ever since breaking through, his energy sensitivity had gone up even more.
Early morning of the next day, Khaos' Cultivation was interrupted when another group landed in the field. Their numbers were similar to his own group. However, unlike his group, the new arrivals had injuries of varying severity.
Seems their instructors used a different selection method'. Khaos thought as he resumed his Cultivation. Over the next week, a lot more groups arrived and soon enough, hundreds of people were in the field.
It was on the seventh day that a group of about 50 Cultivators clad in black robes with insignias of the Black Academy appeared above the field.
A strange pressure suddenly appeared, and everyone found it harder to breathe as they looked up. The wind stopped blowing and an eerie silence enveloped the area, until it was abruptly broken;
"Welcome, to the Black Academy!", a booming voice came from a man who floated at the front of the group.
He was 1.9 meters tall with neat black hair and brown skin. His face was clean shaven and his eyes focused, a frown which seemed to be permanent decorated his face.
He wore a black shirt and black cargo pants which looked to be entirely made of pockets, with the Black Academy logo on his shoulders and back.
"My name is instructor Blake, and i am the head Instructor for the students in the Magic Realm of the Black Academy", the man said, his voice seemed to get louder with each word.
"I have news for you, there have been a change of plans, from here on out every person here is now a fully fledged member of the Black Academy".
What!?' this was the thought of almost all the gathered participants. They had been told that there would be another exam in order to be accepted, but apparently not anymore. Of course, they were all very happy for the change, only one was sceptical;
All these people?' Khaos thought as he looked around him. 'The Academy is seriously going to enroll all of us?. This makes no sense, where would we even fit?' he glanced at the building a few meters away.
"However", the voice of Instructor Blake broke Khaos out of his thoughts. "A few minutes ago, we had a portal incident. Portals are the things you call Dark Dishes. The incident was a level 5 portal burst. Meaning that more that 50 portals but less than 60, have appeared simultaneously".
The new students of the Black Academy were so shocked they could not even think. Only one phrase was repeating in their minds 'More than 50'. Most of the students had seen a portal at least once in their lives, and they knew the amount of chaos one portal could create, so they tried to multiply that chaos by 50.
It was then that an army of Cultivators appeared from the top floor of the building. There was hundreds of them, and they immediately shot into the distance with speeds Khaos had never seen before. If it was not for the fact that they had blocked the sun for a few seconds, no one would have even seen them.
"We have deployed the entire Academy for this threat, and i will tell you the truth right now, it is the most dangerous quest we have ever faced in over 300 years but we cannot back down. This is our duty, this is what the Academies were made for".
"There is over 500 of you and i can say without a doubt that at least 450 of you will die. But we are not forcing anyone to die for humanity, it is your choice and you can leave right now. However, if you do, you cannot come back, so two roads lay before you."